This is a blog Diary for an aging Goth, someone who is into the dark side of things. This Diary is about how I grew up

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Of reviewing the Black Dahlia Book & commenting on our Mass Transit systems~~

Hello Darklings,

Yes my Dark Lovelies I have the Morning off, my Boss said that I'm really only suppose to be working half time until September, and then another review on my health.

Really I am amazed that my back is doing so well but then I'm careful to follow Doctor's orders. But it seems that by being half time I'm more flexable for things here at work and can adjust my schdule as needed.

The only concern is my retirement package, would that adversely affect it, not that I'm worried about income, over the years I've made very wise investments that can hold up to the fluxuations of the economy and the trust fund to maintain the house, so I'll look into that further.

And now to respond to Rebecca's question about the Black Dahlia Book "Fallen Angel" by Troy Taylor published by Whitechapel Press.

The man has done such an extensive and exhaustive investigation into everything revolving around the Black Dahlia (Elizabeth Short), but its more than just her, it is also about the corruption of the police in 20's to 40's Los Angeles, the influcence about the Mob, the cover up about the actions of famous persons, the blackmailing by a powerful newspaper in L.A. and lies, everyone told lies.

Anything you've read about the Dahlia, toss that out of your head, Taylor dug deep, very deep, and for the content I am just blown away and yet so intrigued by it. Darkness Noir with the Dahlia as the figurehead, the face to all of this.

Now here is the other thing, this is not a glossy pictures, hard back book, many of the pictures are photocopies, some very good, some not so good as if photocopies from newsprint, the crime scene photos, autopsy photos very graphic and disturbing. The print is close printed and dense you cannot take this book in one sitting, no, this needs to be digested, its like a fact-packed filled dossier.

Why was it published this way? To make it affordable to any and all crime Noir, film noir, Gothic Noir, History Noir buffs. You can purchase it from Whitechapel press for $17.00 or a little cheaper if you order it from Barnes and Nobel, there is shipping and handling----Whitechapel, for the $17 price has some autographed copies, mine is.

So Rebecca I suggest that you get a copy for yourself and a copy for your Library system. The information in this book blasts the others all away.

By the way as a postscript you can find the Black Dahlia's grave on Find a Grave, the poor dear is buried not in L.A. or in her old home town but in Oakland, Calif. at Mountain View Cemetery.

But getting to her grave is not easy; Mountain View is both flat and hilly, and those graves that have people buried that had next to none or no family but could pay for a cheap plot are on a hillside that's hard to climb up to, difficult to stay at espeically if the grass is wet, dangerous if you should fall, just like the Dahlia.

And why was she buried there? Well it would have cost too much money to transport her, (and I suspect her body was cremated to facilitate easier transportation---if you travel by bus or train they don't object to cremains) and her Father who lived in Oakland had a spare single plot that he didn't want since he had remarried, so she was buried up her far away from the false glamour and glitz of Hollywood, but her grave faces south as if she's looking in that direction.

I should know---- I've visited her small, lonely grave.

And now on a different subject-----Rebecca you commented on finding interesting about our BART Strike (possible)and that where you live people either have to use their cars or a pecarious bus system --- I presume its because frequently the buses are not on time.

Here in the San Francisco-Oakland East Bay Area we are awashed in Mass Transit, but people cling to their cars like they are the Ring of Power from Toliken's Trilogy. And unfortunately because of finacial cut backs and reduction of bus lines they have forced the people to go back to using cars instead of public transportation.

That in time may change.

The area is serviced by Airports, light rail, Trains, Mass transit systems, may of which are numerous and often overlapping.

Let's start with Airports---The largest and oldest in the area is San Francisco International (SFO) and is a major international hub airport 2nd only to LAX (Los Angeles) and is Hub to United and Virgin America airlines. You may have heard about it in the news of the crash of a 777 Asiana airplane which is still under investigation.

Oakland International (OAK) is the 2nd largest in the region and a hub for mostly low-cost domestic flights and is a base for Southwest airlines. It's espeically popular for communter flights, my Doyle goes from OAK when he has to go to LA or San Diego or up north.

We have Mineta San Jose INT Ap (SJC which is a minor focus for Southwest and is popular with Silicon valley.

Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport (STS) is a minor one in Santa Rose and is served by one commercial airline, Horizon Air. It's a fast way for those in wine country to get to their country homes away from the city, many people fly their own planes from a branch of OAK which is called Old Oakland Airport to STS

Now to Mass transit----We have BART a subway/communterrail serives that serves parts of the Bay area including S.F. Oakland, Berkely, Richmond, Fremont and Walnut Creek and has direct connections at SFO and an improved direct connection to OAK is currently being built, there is a shuttle from a BART station to OAK in operation at this time. (the strike will temporarily discontinue that)

CALtrain is a commuter rail that connects San Jose and S.F. and with a BART stop for the other side of the East Bay by way of the Millbrae Station

Amtrak--we have several Amtrak stations in the Bay Area that connects to major train lines up and down the coast, and going south, and back east, and has BART transfer stations at 2 points, the information on Amtraks site can tell you more.

ACE trains this is a rail service that serves commuters to and from the Central Valley to Silicon Valley and travels from Stockton to Pleasanton, Fremont, Santa Clara and ends at San Jose, only runs during commute hours on weekdays.

Light Rail---this is becoming a popular mode of transportation and is slowing beginning to gain much interest in the Bay Area currently it's only in S.F. called Muni Metro, it does share a station with BART under Market Street, this runs on former street car lines.

San Francisco also has Historical Street Car lines, with vintage Street Cars, just riding the different ones can be fun but I recommend to do it between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or after the communte hours as they tend to be crowded.

The other light rail is VTA which serves San Jose, including Santa Clara, Sunny vale, Campbell and Mountain View.

There are other light rail systems being developed in Sacramento and eventually Los Angeles

BUS--- There are numerous and often overlapping bus transit agencies that service the area.

On the East Bay side we have AC transit which serves Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, This system provided limited service to San Francico to the transfer area known as Transbay Terminal from there one has to use the S.F. system.

In San Francico it's called MUNI which is a combination of light rail, buses, as well as antique historical street cars and provides connections to other transit systems.

There are many other shuttle and transit bus systems far to numerous for me to mention but you can look them up on wikipedia under Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area. Once you know the name of the System you can look up their schedules, destinations and cost from their web sites.

Because we are a Bay Area Water location much like Seattle or Vacouver we have Ferry Service provided by several Ferry systems, Golden Gate, Blue & Gold, Red& White. the Hornblower system provides service to visit historic Alcatraz Island.

The Ferrys here are only people ferrys they do not transport cars like some other ferry systems.
There are also shuttle services both Medical, airport and private such as LINKS which serves a limited area.

There is also a system of Car Sharing which is slowly gaining some interest as well a system of "casual car pooling", I have used the later myself while waiting for a bus, but one needs to be discering, I do predict that "casual car pooling" will happen again if the strike happens, one takes a chance on that.

There is also taxi service all over, as well as a program in S.F. called "Ride Sharing" which the Taxi companies and Drivers are having a dispute about in S.F. the issue is safety as well as questions about how legal is this "Ride Sharing" program.
People who use public transportation will purchase a Clipper Card which is reloadable and is accepted by most but not all Bay Area transit agencies---those that do are AC transit, BART, Cal Train, Golden Gate Transit, Muni, SamTrans, and VTA.

The Bay Area possesses an extensive freeway and highway system which during communte hours on a very bad day can become a parking lot, but on the whole is manageable if one drives safely and vigilantly.

Again the wikipedia web site that I mentioned will list the major interstate and state hyway systems in this area.

If one wanted to one could literally travel the entire bay area without driving, but in S.F. be careful taking a bus into the Chinatown area, the Geary, Market Street, Stockton and N Judah, buses and light rail are always packed like sardines, so be careful of your purse, wallet and cell phone, be careful with them on any transit system. And when school lets out or communte times again be prepared to be crushed, squeezed, pinched, bumped and bruised. Don't wear flashy gold or silver jewerly, or anything to attract would be robbers and rudeness. Be prepared for crazies, drunks, druggies and pan handlers.

Other than that it can be fun.

And now I must finish getting dressed for work and taking Mass Transit ;)

Vampire Gothic Rose

About Me

I am an aging Goth, this blog is a diary about how I grew up as an aging goth in the late 1950's, 60's and 70's before being Goth became Kool or whatever it's called now. I'm in my 60's having been born when UFO's crashed into Roswell, New Mexico. If that isn't auspiscious then I don't know what is. I'm going to post my thoughts about a style of Goth that I don't see around here, what I call the Art Deco, Retro aka Corporate Goth. It's not going to be difinitive because I'll be talking about it from an Elderly point of view.
I'll also be posting about what is currently happening in my life, my interest's and strange things.
This blog is not going to be politically correct, I'll get mad and fed up with things, I simply will not put up with foolishness. So if you don't like what I say, that's too bad, you've been warned.